May 07 2006
Grossman Panics?
I think Marc Grossman is panicking. In the latest Team Libby filing (thanks to Tom Maguire) Marc Grossman is singled out as administration snitch and Wilson mouth piece:
Marc Grossman will also be a key government witness. … Previously we have argued that Mr. Grossman may have a motive to misrepresent facts. … It is also possible that Mr. Grossman is biased against Mr. Libby. A recent online column speculates the Mr. Grossman testified before the grand jury that the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s name was an “act of revenge”. The same piece hypothesizes that Mr. Grossman may have been the official who told the Washington Post that “two top White House offcials” called “at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson’s wife”, and that they did so “purely and simple for revenge”.
Well, that makes Grossman, a colleg and life-long buddy of Wilson, a prime suspect for misleading the Special Council. So am I surprised to see this comment in the Washington Post tonight?
Additionally, one former government official said he testified that Rove talked with White House colleagues about the political importance of defending the prewar intelligence and countering Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. It was Wilson who accused Bush of twisting intelligence about Iraq’s efforts to obtain nuclear material from Africa. The official refused to be named out of fear of angering Fitzgerald and the White House.
Boy, this sounds like a Grossman comment to me. Wonder if Fitzgerald and the judge will be upset he continues to leak to the press? And Fitzgerald is in a world of hurt right now:
Fitzgerald has not charged anyone for the crime he initially set out to prove.
Accurate reporting would note that Fitzgerald learned who actually was the first known leaker of Plame’s identity and it was not in the White House. He figured this out in the initial weeks. What he did then was hide the leaker and then go on a witch hunt for Libby and Rove. If I was Fitzgerald, I would be looking for a way to salvage my career. The guy is too young to take on all this damage because he bought into Wilson’s lies. And I doubt he is too happy with Wilson’s buddy Grossman.
Fitzgerald’s case is crumbling. Instead of finding an effort to attack the Wilsons he has reams of evidence outlining the plan to challenge Wilson’s facts without any mention of Plame. More is coming from Rove
Moreover, he has testified, if he really wanted to damage Wilson in the summer of 2003, he would have sought out the many other reporters he knew better and trusted more than Cooper.
Even reporters admit most conversations with the government failed or avoided Plame.
One former aide, who would discuss internal White House discussion only on the condition of anonymity, said Rove was intimately involved in the prewar intelligence fight and discussed various components of the plan at senior staff meetings and one-on-one strategy conversations.
The aide said Rove’s message was that “if there are no WMDs and some blame us, it will not be a pleasant election year.” The aide said Rove talked a lot about Wilson that week, but mostly about the fact he was a Democrat and needed to be rebutted.
No mention of Plame. Good-bye Fitzgerald. Your career is toast.
Fitzgerald got a reputation as a modern day “Elliot Ness” in Chicago when he went after the Daly corruption machine. “Elliot Mess” probably better describes his doings at this point. Someone needs to write a song about the wreck of the Patrick Fitzgerald.
Once Wilson decided to become public in his personal criticism of President Bush, did he really expect that his wife’s employment at CIA would remain secret for long? Too many people would have already known for it to stay a secret. Too many people with a history of leaking to the press would be among that circle.
Fitzgerald could redeem himself by a conspiracy indictment against Grossman and Wilson and others for intentionally creating a scandal for potential monetary gain born out of the publicity. The scenario would be that if they leaked to enough people that Val was Joe’s wife and worked at CIA, someone would attempt to confirm it. Now why someone would attempt to confirm that with a White House aid is interesting. I mean, if I were a reporter, I wouldn’t expect a White House aid to know the employment roster of CIA. It is suspicious that a reporter would bring up the subject of Wilson’s wife to a staffer unless the goal was to verify something ELSE they heard.
What if the rumor was already around town among journalists that Plame was outed by the White House in order to damage Wilson before Novak printed his story? Then I might ask a staffer about Wilson’s wife to see if I got anything back if I heard that rumor.
My best guess at this point is that it was well known that Plame was Wilson’s wife. Someone concocted the story about it being leaked by a White House staffer to either cover the true source of the leak or to intentionally create the very situation we are in now. All it would take is for one reporter to tell another that “I heard from someone at the White House that Joe Wilson’s wife works at CIA and she sent him to recommended him to go to Niger” and it would spread like wildfire by word of mouth. It wouldn’t take long for Novak to get wind of it and find a way to verify that Valerie worked at CIA. Just looking up both her married name and maiden name on any background database would do the trick.
Unless a reporter had already heard about Wilson’s wife working at CIA, I can find no reason for a reporter specifically asking about his wife. If a reporter didn’t specifically ask about his wife, a staffer would have no reason to reply “I heard that too”.
The entire thing stinks of the kind of tactics employed by Fenton clients. You create a firestorm that HAS to draw the media and then you provide the media with the sources who deliver the desired message. Joe Wilson could have simply remained silent about the issue but he didn’t did he? In fact, it was his launching pad to even more speaking engagements.
The White House had a little bit to gain and a lot to lose by leaking this. If they don’t leak it, Wilson eventually goes away once the Niger issue becomes old news. He is a one-trick pony. If they leak the information, Wilson is discredited in the eyes but it again sparks debate in the media as it is vaulted back onto the front pages. Even if “successful” it still gives the issue more play. I believe the administration would have wanted to rebut what Wilson was saying but I don’t believe it would be in their interest to start a scandal.
It IS very much in the interest of IPIP, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame and the VIPS to have such a scandal. It would be interesting for Fitzgerald’s investigation to explore that area but it would rely on someone somewhere telling the truth. There doesn’t seem to be anyone in that circle whos interests would be in telling the truth so it will probably be “another one of those mysteries” as the Ditzgerald investigation evaporates with a purjury hearing against Libby and never indicting anyone for the actual leak and disbans. Much ado about nothing.
Considering that Valerie Plame just signed a multi-million dollar book deal for her ordeal, I’d say that isn’t as farfetched as it might seemed. Who has benefitted from this entire mess? Could this be simply as squalid a tale as “follow the money”?
I feel sorry for Fitzgerald in a way – he’s a pawn. You have to wonder who recommended him as special prosecutor….. someone who also gained from his “tin ear” approach to the investigation?
For those of you not too distracted by "Hookergate," here's a blast from the past: More on "Plamegate"…
AJ Strata emails:[Patrick] Fitzgerald's investigation appears to have learned two things: (1) somebody outside the WH and under SC protection leaked Plame's name to the press, and (2) there is a mound of evidence there was no effort to attack…